New Testament in a Year

Is It Right to Heal on the Sabbath Day?

14 On a Sabbath day, Jesus went to the home of a leading Pharisee to eat with him. The people there were all watching him very closely. ² A man with a bad disease^[a] was there in front of him. ³ Jesus said to the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it right or wrong to heal on the Sabbath day?” ⁴ But they would not answer his question. So he took the man and healed him. Then he sent the man away. ⁵ Jesus said to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, “If your son or work animal falls into a well on the Sabbath day, you know you would pull him out immediately.” ⁶ The Pharisees and teachers of the law could say nothing against what he said.

Don’t Make Yourself Important

⁷ Then Jesus noticed that some of the guests were choosing the best places to sit. So he told this story: ⁸ “When someone invites you to a wedding, don’t sit in the most important seat. They may have invited someone more important than you. ⁹ And if you are sitting in the most important seat, they will come to you and say, ‘Give this man your seat!’ Then you will have to move down to the last place and be embarrassed.

¹⁰ “So when someone invites you, go sit in the seat that is not important. Then they will come to you and say, ‘Friend, move up here to this better place!’ What an honor this will be for you in front of all the other guests. ¹¹ Everyone who makes themselves important will be made humble. But everyone who makes themselves humble will be made important.”

You Will Be Rewarded

¹² Then Jesus said to the Pharisee who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite only your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. At another time they will pay you back by inviting you to eat with them. ¹³ Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, and the blind. ¹⁴ Then you will have great blessings, because these people cannot pay you back. They have nothing. But God will reward you at the time when all godly people rise from death.”

A Story About People Invited to a Dinner^(A)

¹⁵ One of the men sitting at the table with Jesus heard these things. The man said to him, “It will be a great blessing for anyone to eat a meal in God’s kingdom!”

¹⁶ Jesus said to him, “A man gave a big dinner. He invited many people. ¹⁷ When it was time to eat, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come. The food is ready.’ ¹⁸ But all the guests said they could not come. Each one made an excuse. The first one said, ‘I have just bought a field, so I must go look at it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another man said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of work animals; I must go and try them out. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ A third man said, ‘I just got married; I can’t come.’

²¹ “So the servant returned and told his master what happened. The master was angry. He said, ‘Hurry! Go into the streets and alleys of the town. Bring me the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’

²² “Later, the servant said to him, ‘Master, I did what you told me to do, but we still have places for more people.’ ²³ The master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and country roads. Tell the people there to come. I want my house to be full! ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those people I invited first will eat any of this food I prepared.’”